Despite pledges to improve equality of the sexes, women have lost ground in this Parliament when it comes to the influential – and remunerative – jobs of committee chairs and vice-chairs.

While the number of committees — 24 — and the level of the allowances have remained constant, the number of female chairs and vice-chairs has shifted. In the last Parliament, there were two female chairs and 17 vice-chairs. In this Parliament, the number of female chairwomen has increased to four, but the number of vice-chairs has dropped to 12.

A study by iPolitics of the composition of committees reveals that women are taking home a smaller proportion of the extra pay for committee chairs and vice chairs than they did in the last Parliament. Of the $564,000 in extra pay, $446,400 or 79.1 per cent of the pot is going to men, compared with only 20.8 per cent for women.

In the last Parliament, men pocketed 77.4 per cent of the allowances for committee chairs and vice-chairs while women walked home with 22.5 per cent.

Women occupy 26 per cent of the seats in this Parliament and 25 per cent of ridings in the last Parliament.

The Conservative Party has the greatest imbalance between men and women when it comes to the allowances for committee chairs and vice-chairs. The study found only 9.9 per cent of the allowances going to Conservative MPs is being paid out to women while 90 per cent is going to their male colleagues.

While interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose has boasted about the prominent role that women are playing as opposition critics, the high-profile jobs don’t come with a cent in additional pay. But all but two of the Conservative chair or vice-chair slots that come with extra pay went to men.

Committee chairs get an extra $11,700 a year top up their $167,400-a-year MP’s salary, while vice-chairs pocket a $5,900.

Cabinet ministers receive an extra $80,100 a year while parliamentary secretaries get $16,600 more.

If Ambrose had followed the NDP’s lead and had Conservative critics serve as chairs or vice-chairs on committees, the critics – including the Conservative Party’s six female critics – would be earning more money and the proportion of money going to women in the Conservative caucus would have increased to 30 per cent.

One of the Conservative critics who is missing out on the extra pay is former Transport Minister Lisa Raitt, who serves as finance critic and who sits on the Finance Committee. However, instead of putting Raitt in the vice-chair slot, the Conservatives handed the job and the $5,900-a-year allowance to Ron Liepert, rookie MP for Calgary-Signal Hill and a former Alberta cabinet minister.

Raitt, however, doesn’t contest the decision.

“We did it that way before,” she told iPolitics, adding she chose to be a critic. “It’s lightening the load, it’s easing it out. The vice-chairs will sit on steering committees as well. I’ve got QP to do, I’ve got all kinds of stuff that I have to do as well. It’s a good way to get everyone involved, quite frankly. I have no problems with it at all.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made headlines around the world in November when he allocated half of the posts in his cabinet to women. “Because it’s 2015,” he responded when asked why.

However, the biggest decline in the proportion of chair and vice-chair money going to women was also in Trudeau’s Liberal Party. While the money going to Liberal MPs grew from $141,600 to $245,900, the proportion that female MPs received dropped to 21.5 per cent from 33.3 per cent in the last Parliament.

Liberal Government Whip Andrew Leslie said the Liberals may have fewer women in committee chair and vice-chair positions but have appointed more female cabinet ministers and parliamentary secretaries.

“We have fantastic women who are MPs and we have extraordinary women who are in cabinet or parliamentary secretaries and who are chairing committees as well. So, I think in terms of the proportionality of women members of Parliament that we have in the Liberal caucus, in terms of the hierarchy – to use a military term – they are very well represented.”

Former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s last cabinet consisted of 26 men and 12 women.

The New Democratic Party has the best track record in both parliaments of ensuring women are in the lucrative chair and vice-chair slots. The study found that 33.3 per cent of the money going to NDP MPs was being pocketed by women, down slightly from 36.7 per cent in the last parliament.